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I would exceed the measure, if I were to enumerate all the things that are in you for virtue; as I for my part would say that the truth is wronged, if you did not hold the first rank of the senate, or if not, at least the second. Nevertheless virtue, even if it is not exalted by someone, by nature and from itself has what is both kingly and lofty. Thus do I think about your nobility and, as I persuade myself, unfeignedly out of love. Therefore, hold to your virtue and do not envy any of those who have power with the emperors; but indeed, may you not cease to remember us sinners, helping those around Abba Hypatius as far as is possible. This we ask, and also to greet for you those who are close to you and who have done well by me through you. 140 {1To the Logothetissa}1 The time is difficult for a letter of my lowliness to be conveyed there; but nevertheless, the love according to God of your ladyship persuaded us to write and make known to you that your piety and the rich confidence, which you had for us unworthy ones, are unforgotten by us, we who have nothing attractive to draw anyone to faith. But nevertheless you were not deprived of your reward in our unworthiness, since God measures and receives the work of your confidence. Therefore we also pray that you may be healthy and untroubled in the peace of the Lord in your soul. It is not possible for a person to be without afflictions, they being permitted for us by God as a school, so that the proof of our love and faith toward him might be made manifest from them. Bear, therefore, what happens and rejoice in your endurance, because it procures for you the hope of salvation. Guard also your orthodoxy, I ask, not being led astray with those who disobey the truth through the outrage against the holy icon of Christ or of the Theotokos or of any of the saints; for I know your correctness in all things. May God, my lady, guard you in all things as His holy treasure. 141 {1To the Canonesses}1 That I have not forgotten your love according to God, I reckon that you yourselves also know; for I would not pass by you unremembered in my prayers, not because there is any good in me, being a sinner, but, as has been said, on account of our love and acquaintance in the Lord, and I might add, our common habit. And I have many reasons to remember you, because you are both pious and reverent and, moreover, also compassionate towards our lowliness; for I do not forget your benefactions and favors, the pains, so to speak, and tears from our separation concerning and because of the exile. For these reasons we both remember and cherish and hold you as a spiritual mother, and not only you but also the one after you who manages the second rank, praying for your health and blessing from God and success in your ascetic way of life; for we know that you fear God and love Christ who is loved by and loves you in return. Wherefore we are also anxious for you on account of the present affliction of the Christ-fighting heresy; for this must be fled, O mother, in every way; for communion with it separates us from Christ. I am convinced, therefore, concerning you and I rejoice that you are servants and ministers of Christ; and I ask that you make your intercessions to God more earnestly on behalf of my lowliness, so that I may be delivered from the snares of the enemy in all things. 142 {1To the Abbess}1 Your dignity is known to us from the account of Hypatius our spiritual child, not from seeing you with our eyes; but now indeed your piety has become very well known to us from your resistance according to God, since you chose to be cast out both from your monastery and the leadership of the sisters, and even to endure the imprisonment to which you were condemned, rather than to fall from the faith in Christ. For the denial of his holy icon is truly a falling away from Christ, which the new Jews demand, and those who do not obey they imprison, beat, suffocate, afflict, tempt, exile, bind in iron, devising every kind of evil whatsoever. For this reason, O good Ammas, having heard of such a good confession from you, we considered it right through the

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ἔκβοιμι μέτρον, εἰ πάντα καταριθμοίμην τὰ ἐνόντα σοι εἰς καλοκἀγαθίαν· ὡς ἔγωγε ἀδικεῖσθαι φαίην ἂν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, μὴ τῆς συγκλήτου σε τὰ πρῶτα ἔχειν, εἰ δ' οὖν, ἀλλὰ τὰ δευτεροβαθροῦντα. ὅμως ἡ ἀρετή, κἂν οὐχ ὑπό τινος ὑψοῦται, φύσει καὶ πρὸς αὐτῆς ἔχει τὸ βασιλικόν τε καὶ ἄναντες. Οὕτως ἐγὼ τὰ περὶ τῆς εὐγενείας σου φρονῶ καί, ὡς ἐμαυτὸν πείθω, ἀκλέπτως ἐξ ἀγάπης. τοίνυν ἔχου τῆς ἀρετῆς σου καὶ μή τινα φθονήσειας τῶν παραδυναστευόντων τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν· ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ μνημονεύειν ἡμῶν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν μὴ διαλείποις, ἐπικουρῶν τοῖς περὶ τὸν ἀββᾶν Ὑπάτιον ἕως ἐνδέχεται. τοῦτο παρακαλοῦμεν ὁμοῦ τε καὶ προσαγορεῦσαί σε τοὺς διαφέροντά σοι καὶ ἐμοὶ διὰ σοῦ εὖ ποιήσαντας. 140 {1Λογοθετίσσῃ}1 Ὁ καιρὸς χαλεπὸς τοῦ διακομίζεσθαι γράμμα τῆς ταπεινώσεώς μου ἐν τοῖς αὐτόθι· ἀλλ' ὅμως ἡ κατὰ θεὸν ἀγάπη τῆς κυριότητός σου ἔπεισεν ἡμᾶς ἐπιστεῖλαι καὶ γνωρίσαι σοι ὅτι ἀνεπίληστος ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἡ θεοσέβειά σου καὶ ἡ πλουσία πεποίθησις, ἣν περὶ ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀναξίους ἔσχες, οὐδὲν ἔχοντας ἐπαγωγὸν ἐφελκύσασθαί τινα εἰς πίστιν. ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐκ ἐζημιώθης ἐν τῇ ἀχρηστότητι ἡμῶν τὸν μισθόν σου, θεοῦ μετροῦντος καὶ δεχομένου τὸ ἔργον τῆς πεποιθήσεώς σου. διὸ καὶ εὐχόμεθα ὑγιαίνειν σε καὶ ἀτάραχον εἶναι ἐν εἰρήνῃ Κυρίου κατὰ ψυχήν. οὐκ ἔστιν δὲ ἄνευ θλίψεων εἶναι ἄνθρωπον, παιδευτήριον ἡμῖν παραχωρουμένων ὑπὸ θεοῦ, ἵνα τὸ δοκίμιον ἡμῶν τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀγάπης καὶ πίστεως ἐντεῦθεν φανερωθῇ. Φέρε οὖν τὰ συμβαίνοντα καὶ χαῖρε ἐν τῇ ὑπομονῇ, ὅτι τὴν ἐλπίδα σοι τῆς σωτηρίας προξενεῖ. φύλαττε δέ σου καὶ τὴν ὀρθοδοξίαν, παρακαλῶ, μὴ συναπαχθεῖσα τοῖς ἀπειθοῦσι τῇ ἀληθείᾳ διὰ τῆς ὕβρεως τῆς ἁγίας εἰκόνος Χριστοῦ ἢ τῆς Θεοτόκου ἢ οὑτινοσοῦν τῶν ἁγίων· οἶδα γάρ σου τὴν ἐν ἅπασιν ὀρθότητα. ὁ θεός σε, κυρία μου, φυλάξειεν κατὰ πάντα ὡς κειμήλιον αὐτοῦ ἅγιον. 141 {1Κανονικαῖσ}1 Ὅτι οὐκ ἐπιλέλησμαι τῆς κατὰ θεὸν ὑμῶν ἀγάπης λογίζομαι καὶ αὐτὰς ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἀμνημόνευτος ὑμῖν διεξέρχομαι ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν, οὐχ ὅτι ἀγαθὸν ἐν ἐμοί, ἁμαρτωλῷ τυγχάνοντι, ἀλλ', ὡς εἴρηται, διὰ τὴν ἐν Κυρίῳ ἀγάπην καὶ γνωριμίαν, προσθείην δ' ἂν καὶ ὁμοσχημίαν. ἐγὼ δὲ διὰ πολλὰ ἔχω τοῦ μεμνῆσθαι ὑμῶν, ὅτι καὶ εὐσεβεῖς καὶ εὐλαβεῖς καὶ μέντοι γε καὶ συμπαθεῖς πρὸς τὴν ταπείνωσιν ἡμῶν· οὐ γάρ τοι ἀμνημονῶ τῶν εὐποιϊῶν καὶ χαρίτων ὑμῶν, τῶν ὀδυνῶν, ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω, καὶ δακρύων ἐκ τῆς περὶ τὴν ἐξορίαν καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐξορίαν διαστάσεως ἡμῶν. διὰ ταῦτά τοι καὶ μνημονεύομεν καὶ περιέπομεν καὶ ἔχομέν σε ὡς μητέρα πνευματικήν, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν μετὰ σὲ τὰ δεύτερα διέπουσαν, προσευχόμενοι ὑμῖν τὴν ὑγιείαν καὶ ἀπὸ θεοῦ εὐλογίαν καὶ εὐπραγίαν ἐν τῇ ἀσκητικῇ ὑμῶν διαβιώσει· ἴσμεν γὰρ ὑμᾶς τὸν θεὸν φοβεῖσθαι καὶ ἀγαπᾶν τὸν ἐρωμένον καὶ ἀντερῶντα ὑμᾶς Χριστόν. διὸ καὶ ἀγωνιῶμεν ἐφ' ὑμῖν διὰ τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν ἀνάγκην τῆς χριστομάχου αἱρέσεως· φευκτέον γὰρ ταύτην, ὦ μῆτερ, ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου· ἡ γὰρ κοινωνία αὐτῆς διΐστησιν ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ. Πέπεισμαι οὖν τὸ καθ' ὑμᾶς καὶ χαίρω ὅτι Χριστοῦ ἐστε θεραπεύτριαι καὶ ὑπηρέτριαι· δέομαι δὲ ἐνεργέστερον τὰς ὑπὲρ τῆς ταπεινώσεώς μου ποιεῖσθαι ὑμᾶς ἐντεύξεις πρὸς θεόν, ὅπως ῥυσθῶ ἀπὸ τῶν παγίδων τοῦ ἐχθροῦ κατὰ πάντα. 142 {1Ἡγουμένῃ}1 Γνώριμος ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἡ σεμνοπρέπειά σου ἀπὸ διηγήσεως Ὑπατίου τοῦ πνευματικοῦ ἡμῶν τέκνου, οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς κατ' ὀφθαλμοὺς θεωρίας· ἄρτι δὲ καὶ μάλα ἔγνωσται ἡμῖν ἡ θεοσέβειά σου ἐκ τῆς κατὰ θεὸν ἐνστάσεως, ἑλομένης σου ἐκπεσεῖν καὶ μονῆς καὶ προστασίας ἀδελφῶν, καί γε ὑποστῆναι φυλακήν, ἣν κατεκρίθης, ἢ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως ἐκπεσεῖν. ἔκπτωσις γάρ ἐστιν ὡς ἀληθῶς Χριστοῦ ἡ τῆς αὐτοῦ ἁγίας εἰκόνος ἄρνησις, ἣν οἱ νέοι Ἰουδαῖοι ἀπαιτοῦντες τοὺς μὴ πειθομένους φυλακίζουσι, δαίρουσι, πνίγουσι, θλίβουσι, πειράζουσιν, ἐξορίζουσι, σιδηροδεσμοῦσι, πᾶν ὁτιοῦν κακωτικὸν ἐπινοοῦντες. διὰ τοῦτο, ὦ ἀμμὰς ἀγαθή, ἀκηκοότες σου τὴν τοιαύτην καλὴν ὁμολογίαν, δίκαιον ἡγησάμεθα διὰ τοῦ